Tag Archives: squirrel

The New View from Our Catio

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After I threw out our last bird feeder because it attracted a rat, we missed our visit from a couple of cardinals that chose to grace us with their presence a few times a day. I did some research on feeding birds without feeding rats and came up with a couple of solutions.

First, I learned there are a couple of bird seeds that rats don’t like. Not many, but one of them, Safflower seeds, is a favorite of cardinals. The other is nyjer seeds, which is a favorite of finches and other small songbirds.

I ordered the seeds as well as a squirrel resistant bird feeder and a stand for it. My wife and I like squirrels and didn’t want to lock them out, but it needed to be done.

We then decided to buy a separate squirrel feeder that holds peanuts. Even though rats will eat peanuts in the shell, it’s not their favorite and I read that if you kept it above four feet it would help keep them at bay. Since rats can climb, I’m not sure why four feet would matter unless they can’t smell that high.

It took a while for the squirrels to notice the feeder. I put a trail of peanuts hoping one would be smart enough to follow it. Once one did find the feeder, he or she emptied it almost instantly.

In the last week, I have gone through two and a half bags of peanuts and a half a bag of pecans in the shell. If this squirrel is burying the peanuts, there must be quite a large mound around here somewhere, but I haven’t seen it.

While this was going on, my wife heard from her sister that birds love their bird bath, so she ordered one for our house.

So far, we have been entertained by the squirrel and pleased by the return of the cardinals, as well as a few other birds that I have not yet identified. As far as the bird bath, let’s just say we have a bunch of dirty birds living near us.

Our New Bird Bath and Feeder

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When my wife took out our Christmas decorations, she suggested we do the Advent calendar again, by which she meant I do the Advent calendar again. I didn’t do it last year because of our move to our current house, but I did it the two previous years.

Our Advent calendar is made of wood and shaped like a house with 24 drawers. The first year I did it, I didn’t have 24 gifts that would fit in the drawers, so I wrapped them, wrote a short poem for each, and tucked the poems into the drawers. A word of advice: Be careful when you do something overly nice for your spouse, because it will soon be expected. If my wife is reading this, I’m just kidding.

Anyway, because of the small size of our house and its limited space, I needed to ensure my gifts would not take up too much room. Because of the number of gifts, jewelry was not an option. One of the gifts I chose, partly because it would take up no room in the house, was a combination bird bath and feeder with a planter at the bottom.

I did not take a photo of it from the outside, but here it is from Frankie’s perspective.

There is a cardinal on the feeder in the above photo and a squirrel in the photo below.

I worried that squirrels might tip it over, so I attached it to a wooden stake.

So far, the cats don’t seem to care much about it, but we humans have enjoyed seeing the wildlife from our front porch.

Our Squirrel Wannabe

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Frankie has always been fascinated by squirrels. I think he likes how easily they climb trees and wants to be just like them.

The other day he jumped up onto a tree in our yard.

I had to hold Frankie back from climbing higher into the tree.

The next day he was at it again. This time he chose a tree in the vacant lot in front of our house. Technically, the front of our house is the side opposite the driveway.

I hope he doesn’t escape at our new home, or we may have to call the fire department to get him out of a tree.

I See You Squirrel

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Frankie has always been interested in squirrels. Whenever we go for a walk and he sees one, he sinks down to the grass like a stalker and actually thinks he might catch it. This morning he chased one up a tree, but the squirrel remained low, just out of reach, as if he was deliberately taunting Frankie.

Squirrel/Bird Feeder Update

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I ordered a ground feeder last week in an attempt to distract the squirrels away from our new window bird feeder. While I was waiting for it, a Bluejay found our feeder. The curtain was partially closed and I didn’t want to get too close and scare him away, but I took a photo anyway.

The ground feeder I ordered doubles as a birdbath but I put corn in it, which I read is a favorite of squirrels, and placed it under the bird feeder yesterday.

Later that day I saw a squirrel in the bird feeder and looked down to see the corn had not been touched. I watched for a while and saw the squirrel come close to the corn but he never looked at it. I don’t know if he was ignoring it or just had not found it yet.

This morning the squirrel was back in the bird feeder while Frankie and Floki were there. This time he was not as nervous around them as in the past. Both cats even attacked the window to no avail. Eventually, they just settled down to watch.

When the squirrel left, I looked down and saw that all three ears of corn were gone. Somehow the little squirrel managed to drag three ears of corn away. I think now I need to buy a bag of sunflower seeds. I’d like to see him drag all those away.

Our Squirrel Feeder is for the Birds… or Vis Versa

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I brought Floki to get his nails trimmed at the vet last Saturday. He actually had an appointment the Saturday before but his ability to read minds had him under the bed before we even attempted to catch him and put him in the carrier. This time we got lucky and I drove him to the vet.

Behind the counter was an office cat sitting on a cat tree intensely looking out the window like he was going to attack something. There was a window bird feeder on the window and I saw at the edge of the window a squirrel’s tail. The girl behind the counter said his name was Freddy and he loved watching the birds and squirrels. I decided then that I wanted a window bird feeder too.

I did a little research on Amazon and ended up buying this one. I also bought a bag of bird food with a high variety of seeds so that any bird who visits will find something they like. Note: these are affiliate links and I will get a very small commission if you make a purchase.

The first animal to discover the food was not a bird but a squirrel. My wife texted me the other day about how Frankie and Floki were watching it from the cat tree.

Yesterday the squirrel was back and this time I was ready with my phone to record the encounter. Unfortunately, Chris missed the whole thing because he was napping in the other room.

I am not one of those people who try desperately to keep squirrels out of my bird feeder. In fact, I like watching squirrels, and the cats really like watching squirrels, so I had no intention of trying to prevent the squirrels from reaching the feeder. That is until this morning when I noticed the squirrel was poking holes in the screen. So, reluctantly, I removed the screens.

I doubt that squirrel will be able to reach the feeder now but squirrels are pretty resourceful. Now we need to wait for the birds to find it. Perhaps I will put something out there for the squirrels in the future.

Update: After writing that last paragraph and scheduling the post, I heard a noise next to me. I looked and saw the squirrel hanging from the screen on the far left window (far right looking from the street). He was feeling for the screen on the next window. I said, “Sorry, Squirrel,” and I really felt bad for him but I needed not to because he reached up and grabbed the thin ledge between windows and managed to scurry across the windows to the feeder.

Now I either have to remove every screen in the Florida room, which I don’t want to do, or accept that the screens will eventually be ruined, which I also don’t want to do. My other two options are to put food out for the squirrels and hope they ignore the bird feeder or find something decorative that they can climb instead of our screens.